Radicalisation, Extremism and Social Work Practice is the first book to explore cultural identity, acculturation and perceived discrimination of Muslim youth across Western countries in relation to social work, as well as the radicalisation and extremist views and actions of a small number of Muslim youth. It draws on relevant theoretical frameworks and research to examine the different approaches taken in social work practice. Some countries consider multi-agency approaches, particularly how public health practice can inform interventions and strategies. Others take a public health approach, looking for risk factors and seeking protective factors to develop suitable interventions within the communities through public engagement and partnership. As well as examining and discussing the above approaches, this book critically examines government and community-based approaches to radicalisation and extremism, and strategies for combating these. This volume will be a valuable resource for social work students, including other disciplines such as psychology, public health, psychiatry, sociology, political science and community development. It will also be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and researchers.

The study of ‘risk’ in social work involves complex interplay between human behaviour, emotion, evidence of fact, professional values and organisational systems. This book brings together contributions from key social work researchers and theorists from the UK, USA, New Zealand and Italy, writing with a focus on aspects of risk within social work. It examines key debates concerning risk in contemporary social work practice, including ethical dilemmas, approaches to decision-making and the challenges of ignorance and errors. Contributions range from the perennial challenges of how one uses formal knowledge when assessing risk to emerging risks arising from the counterterrorism agenda. This book will enable practitioners, policy makers and researchers to appreciate the complexities of risk in different settings and apply this understanding to their own practice. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Social Work Practice.

The Routledge Handbook of Critical Social Work brings together the world’s leading scholars in the field to provide a cutting-edge overview of classic and current research and future trends in the subject. Comprised of 48 chapters divided into six parts: Historical, social, and political influences Mapping the theoretical and conceptual terrain Methods of engagement and modes of analysis Critical contexts for practice and policy Professional education and socialisation Future challenges, directions, and transformations it provides an authoritative guide to theory and method, and the primary debates of today in social work from a critical perspective. This handbook is a major reference work and the first book to comprehensively map the wide-ranging territory of critical social work. It does so by addressing its conceptual developments, its methodological advances, its value-based front-line practice and as an influence on the policy field. By offering a definitive survey of current academic knowledge as it relates to professional practice, it provides the first comprehensive, up-to-date, definitive work of reference while at the same time identifying emerging, innovative and cutting-edge areas.

A practical and complete introduction to contemporary social work written by subject experts, including best-selling Transforming Social Work Practice Series authors.

At a time of great global uncertainty and instability, communities face fracturing from the increasing influence of extremist movements hostile to democratic and multicultural norms. Europe and the West have grown increasingly polarised in recent years, beset with financial crises, political instability, the rise of malicious actors and irregular violence, and new forms of media and social media. These factors have enabled the spread of new forms of extremism and suggest a growing need for a response sensitive to inequalities and divisions in wider society – a task made even more urgent by the COVID- 19 pandemic. The Routledge Handbook of Violent Extremism and Resilience brings together research conducted throughout Europe and the world, to analyse various articulations of violent extremism and consider the impact that such groups and networks have had on the wellbeing of communities and societies. It examines different theories, factors, and national case studies of extremism, polarisation, and societal fragmentation, drilling deep into national examples to map trends across Europe, North America, and Australasia, to provide regional and state-level comparative analysis. It also offers a thorough exploration of resilience – a recent addition to counterextremism policy and practice – to consider how it has come to play this increasingly central role in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/ CVE), the limitations and opportunities of such approaches, and how it could be shared, developed, problematised, and deployed in response to violence and polarisation. The Handbook details new trends in both violent extremism and counter-extremism response, within this increasingly fractured global context. It critically explores the latest theories of community violence, extremism, polarisation, and resilience, mapping them across case study countries. In doing so, it presents new findings for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to understand these new patterns of polarisation and extremism and develop community-driven responses.

This handbook addresses the diversity and complexity of social work practice in the context of disasters. Drawing on international perspectives, with the inclusion of case studies, this handbook provides a resource for students, practitioners, educators, and researchers seeking to prepare the social work profession for contemporary challenges associated with disasters. Divided into five parts, it explores the following subject areas: 1. Conceptual aspects concerning social work’s relationship with disasters 2. Social work’s role in preventing and preparing for disasters, and response and recovery 3. Social work practice with specific populations 4. Social work education and training in disasters 5. Implications for social work organisations and policy Leading ideas, debates, and approaches from international authors will provide Global North and South perspectives. A critical examination of research and theories for practice, including concepts of human vulnerability and community resilience, will provide the foundation for detailing the practical contributions that social workers can make at the micro, meso, and macro levels of practice. Social work’s underpinning value base of social justice and human rights will also be explored in the context of the complex and dynamic nature of socio-cultural, political, and economic dimensions pertaining to disasters. It will therefore be of interest to all social work students, academics, and professionals as well as those working in allied disciplines, policy, and emergency management roles.

This book is the first of its kind in examining how social work as a profession can address anti-Asian racism through our mission of providing clinical and community interventions, impacting policy, and advancing advocacy for Asian American and Pacific Islander populations. The contributing authors for this book represent many of the seminal social work scholars, activists and educators on this topic, and we provide a comprehensive and in-depth investigation on to address anti-Asian racism through social work action.

This book brings together research that covers perspectives and case studies on terrorism, radicalisation and countering violent extremism (CVE). Written by experts involved in these issues at the grassroots, the book bridges the academic-practitioner gap in the field. The proliferation of academic studies and conferences devoted to these subjects has meant that policymakers and practitioners in the same fields sometimes struggle to digest the sheer volume of academic output. The same critical questions keep coming up, but it is debatable the level to which there have been tangible improvements to our real state of knowledge: knowledge in especially in terms of what “best practices” exist in the field (and what can be translated, versus what approaches remain context and location specific). Written in an accessible manner for the general interested reader, practitioners, and policymakers in the field, this volume comprises edited versions of papers presented at CVE workshops run by the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2016 and 2017.

This book shows how social work can be an active agent for promoting revolutionary changes in order to counter the global neoliberal market fundamentalism which is destroying our planet and reinforcing socioeconomic inequalities, political instability, antidemocratic political ideologies and movements, small wars, conflicts, racism and other forms of oppression. Providing case-studies from South Africa, Chile, Iran, Europe, Australia and the USA written by leading critical and radical social work scholars, this book sheds light on consequences of the global neoliberal racial capitalism and postcolonial oppression. By presenting innovative ideas and suggestions for a revolutionary social work aimed at promoting systemic changes and eliminating the roots of social problems this book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work, community development and social justice more broadly.

This book analyses the deradicalisation and peacebuilding programme undertaken in north-east Nigeria, following the Boko Haram insurgency in the region. The intensity of the insurgents’ violence necessitated measures to combat fundamentalism, including military operations, amnesty, deradicalisation and other strategies. Focusing on the counter-insurgency operations and the various government responses, this work highlights the successes and failures of the approaches adopted by the government in the north-east of Nigeria. The strategies and programmes examined include both military and non-military approaches, but especially non-kinetic measures such as deradicalisation, rehabilitation, reintegration and peace-building programmes. In contrast to previous works, this book addresses neglected areas of inquiry such as the typologies of deradicalisation interventions (of which there are about five), and especially the intellectual response of the Ulama in countering Boko Haram extremism and peacebuilding. The study broadens the horizon of inquiry on insurgency, deradicalisation and peacebuilding in Nigeria, in Africa and globally, by delving deeper into the subject matter using a methodological approach that draws on primary sources from key actors and stakeholders. In addition, the book introduces a new theoretical approach, entitled the ‘Multiple Front Reaction Model’, and will challenge future works to consolidate or synthesise its assumptions. This book will be of interest to students of deradicalisation, political violence, African politics and security studies.